


Affirming the Consequent

by phinnia



Series: Tara Paris Episodes [2]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2018-09-29
Packaged: 2019-07-18 23:01:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16128515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phinnia/pseuds/phinnia
Summary: Non Sequitor, as seen through Tara Paris's eyes.





	Affirming the Consequent

Marseilles was warm, for March.   Tara pulled her fur cloak around her shoulders and kept walking.     
  
She’d have to find something lighter.   That took replicator credits.   She’d have to find a way to get them.  
  
She sees a guy that looks like he might be wanting a friend for the night, and starts to sashay over there.    
  
Then someone knocks her down.    
  
“Who the hell are you?”   She looks up at a pair of deep, dark eyes, framed by black hair.  “I’m trying to set up a deal here.”     
  
“Tara?”   he says to her.     
  
“Who are you?”   she says.   Then she sees the uniform.   Gold and black, Starfleet issue.  Oh.  “Did we go to the Academy together?”  
  
“No, we didn’t.”  
  
“Then we served on the Exeter together, right?  Must have been the Exeter.”     
  
He helps her up.    “No.   Try _Voyager_.”     
  
“ _Voyager_.”   She laughs a little bit.   “I never set foot on that ship.  Can’t say that I’m sorry, considering what happened to it.”  
  
“You know about the mission to the Badlands.”  This fellow takes her hand - like he’s _allowed to do that_ , and Tara doesn’t just _let people do that_ , not anymore - and actually strokes her cheek.   She shivers and moves away, and he looks … hurt.     
  
“Of course I do.   Captain Janeway asked me if I wanted to assist her with that mission in exchange for an early release.”  
  
“And you said no.”   The man says.  
  
“Are you kidding?   I said yes!   Beats Starfleet Rehab.    Anyway, I got as far as Deep Space Nine when I got into a bar fight with a Ferengi.   And I was thrown into the brig by a very unpleasant shapeshifter.   Janeway tried to get me released, but my parole was revoked by Starfleet Command.  _Voyager_ left without me.”  
  
“That Ferengi, was he trying to sell you Lobi crystals?”    
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“And you bought three cases of scotch.”     
  
She nods.    “Probably on the ship, don’t know what happened to it.”  
  
“You spent all of your gold-pressed latinum in the bar.”  
  
“Yeah, I did.”   She nods, tipping her head to one side.   “How do you know so much about me?    Did we fuck?”  
  
“We have, a few times.”  
  
“All right, tell me something else about myself.   What’s your name?”  
  
“Harry.”   He smiles broadly, with teeth, and she can see why she’d fuck this one.   Cute.  Nice smile.  “Harry Kim.   Well … I know you hate replicated food.  You think it tastes funny.   The Doctor says you’re a supertaster, someone who can taste more than other people.   I know you drink only real Scotch from the Highlands.  Glenmorangie is your favorite, but you also like Ardmore.   I know you have a little mole on your left cheek of your ass shaped like a hawk.   I know you think you killed your mother.”  
  
“What?”   She’s never told anyone that story.  
  
“She went into early labor with you on a trip your were taking to Utopia Planitia.   To meet your father at the fleet yards.   Your placenta ruptured, and she had a blood infection.   That led to a fatal extra-antibiotic resistant staph infection.   She only lasted a month.”  
  
She must have told him that story.  
  
“I … I trusted you.”   she says in amazement.  
  
He smiles again.   “You did.”  
  
“I don’t trust anybody.”     
  
“Well, you trusted me.”   Harry smiles.     
  
“I guess I did.   I must have.  I’ve never told anybody else that story.”  
  
So Harry starts telling her a story of his own.   How he was lost in a time storm.   He was supposed to be on _Voyager_ , and so was Tara.  
  
“I have a way to get back.”  He holds out something that looks like a silver coin.   “I have access to a ship.  But I need a pilot.”  
  
“I know a pretty good pilot.”  she says modestly.    “She’s got a few tricks up her sleeve, too.”  
  
“Well, come on, then.”  
  
  
They go back to San Francisco.  
  
Tara hasn’t been here in ages.   But she remembers it all too well.   She lived here for twenty years.  She has so many memories of it.    
  
She has so many memories of the Starfleet compund, too.   Walking around it with her father.   Going to the Academy here.   Piloting practice.   So many piloting sims.   She beat most of them.   Ninety-eight point nine percent of them.   Academy record.   Her Academy record.   Still unbeaten.     
  
“Where’s your office?”   she asks Harry.  
  
“Level 6, subsection 47.”  
  
She takes something out of her purse.  “Site-to-site transporter.   With friends like mine, you never know what kind of enemies you run into.”  
  
She holds Harry’s hand and enters in the transport coordinates.  
  
“Okay.   I can break the codes to get the runabout out of here, but we have about thirty seconds.”    
  
They go into Harry’s office.     
  
She keeps an eye on the console, watching Harry hack.   “They’ve detected intruders.  You’ve got about twenty seconds.”  
  
“I’ve almost got it - there!”  
  
An admiral runs in.   “Kim - Tara Paris, is that you?”  
  
She smiles.  “Bill.   Give my dad a kiss from me.”   She blows a kiss across the room, and then runs after Harry.  
  
Tara throws herself at the conn seat.   “Space door is closing.”   Fancy flying indeed, has to take the runabout nearly in a 45 degree angle to get it through.  “We’re clear.”   More alarms.     
  
“I’m entering the coordinates of the timestream into the main computer.”  
  
“Adjusting course to match.”  
  
“We’ve got a starship on our tail, Nebula class.   I’ll try and lose ‘em, Harry, but they’re a lot bigger and faster than we we are.”    They lose shields through a bunch of phaser hits.   “I thought you said this ship was new and improved!”  
  
“It is!  But a lot of the defensive systems haven’t been put in place yet.   We’re losing antimatter containment!   We could be looking at a core breach.”  
  
Oh, isn’t that great.   “3,000 kilometers and closing.”  she said.  
  
“If we can’t shake them off, maybe we can slow them down a little.   This ship’s equpped with tetrion plasma warp nacelles.”  
  
“So?”   Tara snapped.  
  
“Tetrion plasma emits multiflux gamma radiation.  It disrupts subspace.”  
  
“We could vent the warp plasma.   The second they hit the warp cloud, their engines would stall.  Give us a few seconds of breathing room.”  
  
“Exactly.”  
  
She grins wildly across the cockpit at Harry.  Oh, she does like him.  Smart, cute, trustworthy and apparently not bad in the sack.    “Unlocking the warp drive manifold.”  
  
“Venting drive plasma.”  
  
“Any second … they’ve dropped to one-tenth impulse.”   She looks down at the conn.   “We’re approaching the co-ordinates of the time stream.”  
  
“Let’s re-create the conditions of my shuttle accident.  I think I was travelling at 140, 000 kph.”  
  
“You _think_?”    
  
“Look, that was another lifetime.    I’m doing the best I can.”  
  
She sighs and rolls her eyes at him.  “Increasing speed to 140, 000 kph.”  
  
“Now, I also remember running a polaron scan.  The beam was running at a radius of half a million kilmometers.  No, wait.  A quarter million.  Activating polaron scan.”  
  
“Approaching coordinates.  Impact in 3 … 2 … and …”  
  
Nothing happens.  
  
“Did we miss it?”  
  
“We passed through the coordinates, but the runabout was unaffected.”  
  
“The starship has repowered its engines.  They’ll be here in under a minute.”  
  
“I have to get into that timestream.”  
  
“Wait a minute.”   Harry’s got his eyes squeezed shut.   “I’m forgetting something.   The emergency transport.   The last thing I remember hearing was Captain Janeway’s com voice.   She said she was trying to beam me off the shuttle.    That’s it!  I’ve gotta beam off the ship!”  
  
“Are you _crazy_?”  
  
“We have to recreate all the conditions of the accident.  Including that one.”  
  
The whole shuttle shakes.     
  
“We just lost antimatter containment.”   Harry says, far too calmly.   “25 seconds to core breach.”  
  
And then Tara realizes what she has to do.  She spins the shuttle around.   “I’ve locked on to the timestream.   Get on the transporter pad.”  
  
“Not yet.   The core’s still breaching.  We’ve got to shut it down first.”  
  
“There’s no time!  That ship’ll be there in another thirty seconds!”  she says, sounding too much like her father for her own comfort.  
  
“In fifteen seconds this ship is going to explode!”  Harry snaps back.   “You’ll be killed!”  
  
“Look.”   She turns to look at him seriously.   “If you’re right, then things will be changed back to the way they’re supposed to be, and you’ll find me back on _Voyager_.”  
  
“And if I’m wrong, and this doesn’t work, you’ll be blown up right here!”   he argues.  
  
“Go!”    She shoves him toward the transporter pad and brushes a quick kiss on his lips just before she hits the buttons to beam him out.  
  
The shuttle explodes in space.  
  
  
Tara’s sitting at the conn, trying not to worry.    Harry, don’t die, you stupid fuck.  
  
“Voyager to Shuttlecraft Drake, prepare for emergency transport.   Mr. Kim, can you hear me?    We’re attempting to lock on to you.   Harry?”  
  
“Kim here, Captain.”  
  
“Harry, we need you to drop your shields.”  
  
“Stand by.”  
  
“Shields down, Captain.”  
  
“Lieutenant.”   Janeway says to B’Elanna.  
  
Tara looks at her panel and her hands on her panel and tries not to worry.     
  
“I can’t get a positive lock on him.”  
  
“The hull is starting to buckle under the stress.”   _And so am I_.   She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.    “He won’t survive much longer.”   _Don’t panic._  
  
“Tuvok, can you boost the transporter signal?”  Chakotay asks.  
  
“Negative.   The signal is at maximum gain.”  
  
“Ten seconds to hull breach.”   Tara says, trying not to panic.   Her palms are sweating.  
  
“He’s just out of reach.”  Janeway whispers.  “B’Elanna, can you tie the transporter signal into the main deflector dish, use it to extend the signal?”  
  
“I’ll try.”     
  
“Hull breach in progress.”   _Hang on, Harry.   Just hang on._      
  
“We’ve got him, Captain.”  
  
Tara sighs probably a little more loudly than she’d meant to.   Janeway gave her a smile and a pat on the shoulder.  
  
“Janeway to Transporter Room 2.   Are you all right, Mr. Kim?”  
  
“I think so.   Is Lieutenant Paris there?”  
  
“Yes, she’s here.   Why?”  
  
“It’s a long story, captain.”   
  
“I look forward to hearing it.”  
  
So did Tara.  
  
  
Then Harry came on the bridge, reassuringly solid and alive.     
  
“We think your shuttle was caught in some kind of temporal anomaly.”  Chakotay says.  
  
“A timestream?”  
  
“You could call it that.”  
  
She turns to look at him.   “Welcome back.  Kind of a rough ride, huh?”  
  
“You could say that.”   He gives her a hug around the neck from behind, which _never_ happens on the bridge.   _Ever_.  
  
“What is it, Harry?”  
  
“I owe you one.”  He murmurs.    
  
“Pay me later.”  she whispers.  
  
And he winks, and goes into the captain’s ready room.   She smiles and turns back to the viewscreen.  
  
  
When Harry comes out of the captain’s ready room it’s about three minutes to the end of her shift and those are a very long three minutes.   She watches them count down second by second.   Fortunately, Baytart is usually early.  She hands the conn off to him and takes Harry’s hand.  
  
“No holding hands on the Bridge, Lieutenant.”  
  
She’s about to turn around and give Chakotay a patented Admiral Paris death glare learned directly from the source, but he was kidding.   So she just sniffs and walks toward the turbolift with Harry, still holding hands.     
  
“So.”   she breathes in Harry’s mouth when they’re alone in the turbolift.   “You owe me, huh?”  
  
“Yeah.”  He smiles.   “Yeah, I do.   You kissed me, too.   The other you did.   Just before you beamed me out.”  
  
“Is this a long story?”  
  
“Pretty long, yeah.   Probably needs a drink with it.”  
  
“Well then.”   Her eyes are probably sparkling.    “Let’s get a drink.”     
  
They go back to her quarters.  She takes out her bottle of Glenmorangie, because a day when Harry nearly dies is definitely a night for Glenmorangie, and she pours herself two fingers and he replicates himself a Katarian ale.   It’s their little ritual by now.    
  
He sits on the sofa.   She sits sideways, sprawling long legs across his lap like an enormous puppy, and he puts one arm around her.  
  
And he tells her the story.  He got lost in the timestream and found her whoring in Marseilles.    
  
“I had to knock you off a set of four-inch heels.”  he says.   “Like you need the height.”  
  
“It’s not the height.  It’s the walk.  Look, I’ll show you.”   She gets up and takes a pair of heels out of her closet and sashays across the room, making sure to accentuate her hips.   “See?   It’s all in the moves.”  
  
“I see.”  He knocks her off those, too, onto the bed.   “I should encourage you to wear heels more often.”  
  
“But then I’d be even taller then you.”  
  
“So?”   Harry grins down at her.   “You’d also walk like that.”    He kisses her on the lips and she wraps her legs around him, pulling him closer, and they wrestle for control.   He lets her win.   She’s never sure if that’s deliberate or not.  Another of those mysteries about Harry.   He wrestles her out of her clothes and she wrestles him out of his clothes.     Then they slide together, skin on skin, and he looks almost … stunned.  
  
“What is it?”  she whispers.  
  
“I was afraid you were going to die.”  
  
“Join the club, Harry.”   she laughs a little bit, nipping his ear.   “I was terrified you were going to die.  Hull breach, remember?”     
  
“Right.   Hull breach.”   He kisses her softly, like he did that first day.   “Mmm.   Scotch still tastes better on you.”     
  
She can feel him hard against her thigh.  It’s nice.    
  
It always is nice, though.  
  
She reaches down and strokes Harry’s cock gently, firmly, and he moans gently and repositions his hips.  He enters her gently, like he always does, and she rocks back and forth on top of him.   It’s brilliant, like it always is.    She’s never told him it’s brilliant.   But it is.      
  
Harry comes with a gentle groan, like he always does, and then he slides down to pleasure her with his hands.   He’s determined.   That had startled her the first night they were together, how determined he was for her to meet her climax.   Unexpected.  Lots of strange, unexpected things about Harry Kim.   Delayer of gratification, satisfier of women.   Good with his hands.   And his mouth.   Tara felt the energy coil inside her like a spring, and closed her eyes and just let it loose.   
  
“You’re beautiful like that.”   Harry murmurs.  
  
“So are you.”   she replies, looking up into his dark eyes.     
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading :)


End file.
